


The Value of Victory

by allaire mikháil (allaire)



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Civil War Team Iron Man, Gen, Not A Fix-It, Not Steve Friendly, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Team Not As Family, Tony Stark is Done with This Shit, Unreliable Narrator, actions have consequences
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-31
Updated: 2017-08-31
Packaged: 2018-12-22 02:45:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11958087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allaire/pseuds/allaire%20mikh%C3%A1il
Summary: A champion is afraid of losing. Everyone else is afraid of winning.~ Billie Jean KingUnlike Steve, Tony hadn't been born a leader of men.





	The Value of Victory

Tony leans back. His smile is his publicity one, Steve knows, and is but a cover for his insecurity. The other man hasn’t been a bad leader for the New Avengers during the Invasion, but he’s most at home in his lab, inventing and creating new technologies that awe the world, and not in command of a team in the field.

 _Tony will be much happier once he can go back to the things he loves_ , Steve thinks. _He might never admit it, but deep down, he’ll be grateful._

The Accords Panel is meeting in a hotel in downtown New York. The environment is unnecessarily upscale in Steve’s opinion. He gets why they refused Tony’s invitation to meet in either the Compound or the Tower – something about keeping their impartiality and maintaining clear and visible boundaries, also in the eyes of the world.

Frankly, Steve prefers full gatherings of the Panel to smaller meetings with just their Accords Liaison present. Their liaison, a prematurely balding, soft-spoken man by the name of Cosmin-Silviu Mihai, seems to have inexplicable reservations regarding Steve’s side of the Avengers, and while they hardly show, Steve knows when he’s put at a disadvantage. Sooner or later, he’ll manage to win him over, but until then, he’s aware he has to tread lightly.

Mihai clears his throat and continues: “The proposal regarding a re-structuring of the Avengers Team I’ve received has been signed by—“

 _Bucky, Sam, Clint, Natasha, Wanda, Scott, and T’Challa_ , Steve continues silently in his head. _More than half of the team wants me back in command. That should prove to be enough, even if Tony and Rhodes object._

“—All permanent members of the New Avengers,” Mihai finishes.

Steve is torn out of his thoughts and opens his mouth to demand an explanation.

Their liaision doesn’t seem to have realized that Steve might want to speak and talks over him instead. “I also have received another request on a related note that Mr. Rogers might want to clarify later on in person. But first, please let us focus on the motion introduced by Dr. Stark. Dr. Stark?”

Tony gets up and pulls his suit jacket into place. His left arm is still in a sling from his confrontation with Thanos. Steve doesn’t want to be petty, even in his own head, but he’s sure the brunet could have ditched the sling – as he is wont to do with any and all medical devices that he considers unreasonably restricting, no matter who yells at him for it – , but uncharacteristically, decided to keep it in order to evoke sympathy from the Panel.

Steve is disappointed. Three years ago, Tony would have never resorted to such cheap tricks.

“Dr. Mihai, esteemed members of the Panel, my team has asked me to put to a vote the foundation of a new, separate team of US-based superheroes at a second location.”

Steve wasn’t aware that Rhodes and his blonde girlfriend – no, it’s fiancée now – wanted to move out of the Compound, although of course it makes sense. Didn’t Rhodes use to be posted somewhere on the West Coast once he’d returned from his tours to the Middle East?

“Considering the size of the American continent as well as the response time should something happen in, say, Los Angeles, establishing a new team at the other side of the country seems like a good idea.” Tony grimaces. “Also, our fight against Thanos’ forces has proven that the parallel running of two teams under two separate commanders on the same mission is often counter-productive if not outright dangerous.”

 _True_ , Steve thinks. More than once, Vision and Wanda got into each other’s way in the final battle, and having two people with pretty much the same technological suit allowing them to shrink and grow at will – Ant Man and the Wasp – doesn’t benefit anyone. The van Dyne girl doesn’t act like she wants to return to her job at her father’s company, however.

Thankfully, Tony’s got deep enough roots in New York that Steve isn’t likely to lose him to Rhodes’ team. He and Pepper got back together, and there might even have been a proposal there at one point or another – Steve isn’t entirely sure.

“There is also another point to consider,” Tony continues somberly. “Not a single member of my team is comfortable with the idea of serving under Mr. Rogers. If I understand it correctly, that is the second proposal received by Dr. M—“

Steve just barely keeps from leaping to his feet. “Tony, that is way out of line,” he exclaims, drowning out the rest of Tony’s sentence. Several Panel members, looking indignant, start talking all at once.

A shrill whistle restores an embarrassed feeling of quiet to the room.

Former Commander Ross, now the US representative on the Accords Panel, leans back and nods respectfully at Mihai.

The European takes his time and looks at the faces of all the people gathered, one after the other. They all shrink a little in their seats and look attentive. Even Steve isn’t immune. There’ll be time to have his voice heard later, he’s sure. He’ll insist, if necessary. It might be wiser to first listen to Tony’s arguments to he can refute them later, anyway.

“My team is based out of the Avengers Compound in upstate New York. The Compound is financed to 80 percent by myself, with the UN bearing the remaining cost. I have no intention of paying the salaries, living expenses and general upkeep of what the public has chosen to call the ‘Rogue Avengers’. In short, unless the UN has plans to purchase the Compound from me, I intend to not allow any of Mr. Rogers’ teammates onto the premises outside of mandatory meetings in case of another world-wide threat.”

Steve expects pandemonium to break out. Instead, the room remains quiet, and most of the people present even seem to nod approvingly. Have they no respect for the sacrifices his team has made? No gratitude? Do they really plan to let Tony get away with essentially _blackmailing_ them? He starts fuming silently.

“That makes acting as a team a bit… difficult.” Tony pretends to smile self-deprecatingly. “If it were only that, we might be able to come to an agreement. However, I am aware that Mr. Rogers’ team wishes for him to command the newly-reunited Avengers, and that will not stand.”

Steve opens his mouth and coincidentally gazes over at Mihai. The man shoots him such a forbidding look that he hesitates, falters, and slowly closes his mouth again. He starts looking at all the other gathered Panel members, one after the other, and – how is that possible? _None of them_ appear as though they’re even half as disturbed as Steve is by the direction this meeting is starting to take.

“One might argue that Mr. Rogers has no more or less experience in leading a team comprised entirely of superheroes than I do,” Tony admits, “but the last two years have proven, I dare say, that, despite first doubts, the New Avengers have done a fabulous job under Colonel Rhodes and my leadership – in accordance with the Accords.”

Steve jolts at the obvious dig, but Tony’s not even looking into his direction. He looks calm, controlled, and dignified. _That’s how he must be_ , Steve realizes, _when he wants his company’s board to take him seriously_. It’s miles away from the grease-covered, sleep-deprived mechanic in torn jeans and a dirty tanktop, or the showman from the video files provided by S.H.I.E.L.D. that documented Tony’s disastrous Senate hearing.

There’s a feeling of loss he can’t explain that arrests his tongue for a moment longer.

“Ever since his discovery of the Winter Soldier’s identity, Mr. Rogers has shown a clear distinction between those team members ‘in the know’ – those he trusted and relied on –, and the rest of us who were treated like second-class citizens. It all cumulated in the battle in Leipzig and later, on a smaller scale, in Siberia. Mr. Rogers has proven that the safety and freedom of his ‘favorites’ is worth, to him, any and all kind of damage and injury to those who dare refuse to fall in line with his decisions.”

Now Steve can’t keep a reign on his temper anymore and throws in loudly, “You’re twisting the facts, Tony. I’ve always treated you all equally in the field.”

Tony looks over at him, and says nonchalantly: “That is a lie, Mr. Rogers. You’ve always had your favorites. I can even list them if you’ve forgotten. Bucky Barnes. Wanda Maximoff. Sam Wilson. Then the rest of your so-called ‘team’. And, far down at the end of the list, anyone affiliated with me, since apparently your trust only lies in ‘individuals’ when they’re not on _my_ side of things.” He ends his speech with a look of such contempt at him that Steve is entirely thrown.

“But those are Avengers internal matters that have no place here,” he continues. Steve wants to strangle him. “Suffice it to say that none of the New Avengers trust that in combat you’d be able to calmly and impartially choose who to order to retreat and who to send into danger, only letting the requirements of the situation guide your decisions. No, we all believe you’d save your favorites at any cost, and wouldn’t cry a single tear if one – or all – of the rest of us failed to come back from a mission.”

Steve prepares to refute that outrageous lie, but Mihai interrupts before he can: “Mr. Rogers, I suggest you follow one of the most basic tenets of democratic discourse and let Dr. Stark make his point, please. You’ll have ample time to present your side of things afterwards. If you cannot master your indignation, I will have to ask you to leave this meeting until you feel like you can.”

Steve bites his lip so hard he tastes blood. _I’ve been wrong_ , he realizes. Mihai doesn’t just have reservations; he outright _hates_ Steve’s side of the Avengers.

“Similarly, we don’t trust that a similar situation wouldn’t arise even if Mr. Rogers and his team were absorbed by the New Avengers under my command. In the field, Mr. Rogers would insist on ‘backseat driving’, so to speak, and countermand any orders he didn’t agree with, and his loyal compatriots would follow his lead without hesitation. I don’t have to explain how disastrous and potentially lethal that would be.

“No, the only solution would be installing another team under Mr. Rogers’ command that’d be located at the West Coast. In a training facility wholly financed and closely supervised by the UN, until the ‘Rogues’ have proven that they _can_ , in fact, put the needs of the people they claim to fight for above their own.”

Steve leans forward in his seat. But Tony simply waits a beat and continues, looking challengingly at him all the time: “I also beg the Panel to consider that my team, to a man, is willing to withdraw from their individualized Accords agreements and would rather stop acting in their capacity as superheroes altogether than be put on a team with the ‘Rogue Avengers’. That is not meant as an attempt to blackmail the esteemed attendants, the Panel or the United Nations as a whole; it is simply our firm resolution to have the consequences be known should we be forced into a position we consider dangerous for our continued health and safety.”

Steve desperately stares at the long row of the attendants’ face. Not one of them looks furious or even dissatisfied.

The realization makes him feel as cold as the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. _Captain America's reputation is useless here. I have no support among these people. Everyone’s on Tony’s side._

Tony winks at him and smirks, full of dark satisfaction.

Even as he jumps up to yell at the brunet, Steve knows that he’s playing right into his former friend’s hands, but he’s never been able to keep quiet when faced with a bully.


End file.
